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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

VOA News: Jerome Socolovsky- Libyan Uprising Boosts Morale in Mideast: Is The Assad Regime in Syria Next to Fall?

I’m not in favor of the United States putting troops on the ground in Libya, or Syria and would like to see us pull our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq as well. As well as in developed nations like Europe, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Korea as well. Even though I was in favor of our involvement in the NATO no fly zone in Libya under the War Powers Act. The way the Obama Administration has interpreted the WPA since, by basically saying that they don’t need the approval of Congress to continue the involvement there, even though it says in the WPA that the President must get approval from Congress within ninety days after committing troops in other nations.

I’m glad the Libyan no fly zone has worked, but I’m not happy with Obama Administration’s approach to the WPA since. And because of this I wouldn’t be in favor of getting involved in a NATO no fly zone over Syria either. But that doesn’t mean America should sit still and watch innocent Syrians be murdered just because they are fighting for freedom either. What NATO, the European Union, the Arab League perhaps the United Nations can do and where Egypt and Turkey could play a very valuable role here, both large countries with well equipped and have large military’s, is to defend the Syrian people on the ground. With a force coming from the air.

With Turkey being a part of NATO and bordering Syria as well and with Egypt being near by, is take the lead role in forming a no fly zone over Syria, or committing ground troops in Syria with the Syrian opposition’s permission. Not to take out the Assad Regime exactly, just to prevent and to stop the Assad security forces from murdering its own people. And America can help with the EU, UN and AL with economic sanctions, keep money and resources from going into the Assad Regime. And supply money and resources military and otherwise the Syrian opposition as they fight for their freedom. And hopefully an operation like that would drive the Assad Regime out of power, or at least drive President Bashar Assad to step down from a power and to allow for a smooth transition to form the next government in Syria.

It’s been proven over the last ten years with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that the U.S. military is over committed in the world. And that we can no longer afford to be the sole policemen of the world. But when we work with our allies like NATO in the Balkans in the mid and late 1990s and in Libya today. We can play a very constructive role in developing an environment where peace and democracy can take place. When our major allies step up and take a big role. Like what France, Britain and Egypt are doing in Libya today. That when we have and internationalist foreign policy, or as I would call a liberal internationalist foreign policy.

Instead of trying to do everything on our own like in Iraq. A neoconservative foreign policy we can get bogged down and flirt with disaster and where we are wondering how we get out of it. With Muammar Gaddafi out of power, or least no longer running Libya anymore. Hopefully the Assad Regime in Syria is the next authoritarian dictatorship to fall. But I don’t believe that will happen on its own, nor do I believe the United States should try to force that on Syria either. But we can play a smaller, but constructive role in making that happen.